Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jason Hare" <jason AT hareplay.com>]

> Jason seemed to suggest that rafe is used to indicate whether there is a
> vocal sheva, in the context of the non-BGDKPT consonants which lose
> dagesh before sheva. This one is something new to me. Jason, are you
> suggesting that rafe is used on non-BGDKPT consonants? And that it is
> used distinctively, i.e. that C (any consonant) with rafe is different
> from C without rafe, in the absence of any dageshes? If so, where?

I just opened my siddur (Siddur Qol Ya'akov -- Artscroll) and found the
first appearance of the Rafe over a letter. Its first appearance is on page
2 in the beginning of the atifat talit (donning of the tallis).

"Bar'chi nafshi et haShem, haShem elokai gadalta me'od, hod v'hadar
lavashta. Oter or casalmah, noteh shamayim kayriah."

The rafe appears over the resh of "bar'chi" to indicate that it is NOT
borchi (with a closed first syllable and a silent shva). What it represents
is that we have bar'chi (long vowel kamets, with a vocal shva and aspirated
kaf).

Hope that makes sense. If you have an Artscroll Siddur, you might just
wander through it. There are MANY examples.

Best regards,
Jason